The increased development of hospital services in Hong Kong over the last decade has given rise in the demand for more recruits to join the nursing profession. Despite the advancement in education and the improvement in the working conditions, the problems of attracting sufficient new recruits remain critical. This study aimed to examine high school students' attitudes towards the nursing profession and to identify the contributing factors affecting shortage of nurses within the context of Hong Kong. A convenience sample of 375 high school students was recruited. A questionnaire was used to measure their knowledge, attitudes and intention to study nursing. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe their career preferences and to compare knowledge, attitudes and intention scales between gender and nursing exposure groups. Results indicated that the students were generally knowledgeable about nursing but were reluctant to pursue nursing as a career. However, students who were socially acquainted with a nurse demonstrated a slightly more positive attitude towards nursing and slightly higher intention to pursue nursing as a career compared with those having no social acquaintance with a nurse. Implications for promotion of nursing profession and limitations of the study were discussed.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this survey was to obtain a self-reported assessment of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by medical students at the International Medical University, Malaysia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students' perceived skills and extent of usage of ICT were evaluated using a questionnaire. Chi-square analysis were performed to ascertain the association between variables. Further statistical testing using Chi-square test for trend was done when one of the variables was ordered, and Spearman rank correlation when both variables were ordered.
RESULTS: Overall, (98%) of students responded to the questionnaire. Twenty seven students (5.7%) did not use a computer either in the university or at home. Most students surveyed reported adequate skills at word processing (55%), e-mailing (78%) and surfing the internet (67%).
CONCLUSION: The results suggests that in order to increase the level of computer literacy among medical students, positive steps would need to be taken, for example the formal inclusion of ICT instruction in the teaching of undergraduate medicine. This will enhance medical students' ability to acquire, appraise, and use information in order to solve clinical and other problems quickly and efficiently in the course of their studies, and more importantly when they graduate.